René Magritte’s message was that images do not convey the full sense of an object. Observers are often fooled into thinking that
a simulacrum is the real thing.

In the field of genealogy research, nothing can
substitute for “the real thing”; i.e., the actual record, as opposed to an
index or a transcription of a record. The
real thing contains the complete information that you need in order to identify
an ancestor, locate his or her parents, and in general, make the connections
you need to fill in those blanks on your family tree.

When presented with the opportunity to access the real
thing, no one wants to be confronted with yet another obstacle to getting
up-close and personal with that long-lost ancestor. Yet that is happening with increasing
frequency on the FamilySearch website, among others.

Many of the record collections in FamilySearch are
restricted, and the number of restricted collections is
increasing due to privacy laws, among other reasons. This blog explains your
options for viewing a particular document you have located through FamilySearch but which has restrictions placed on it.

This searchable collection contains 682,055 Irish land-occupation
records from the nineteenth century. These records include details on bankrupt
estates as well as on landowners and tenants from all counties in Ireland.

However, when you try to display any of the actual
records, the following message appears:

Unfortunately, FamilySearch has limited access to
these records. This could be for
numerous reasons, including the archive’s request, copyright laws, or the fact
that FamilySearch purchased only limited access rights.

In order to view the image, you have the following
options:

Go to an FamilySearch Center or other LDS-affiliated
institution (such as the Family History Library or Brigham Young University). Find the LDS FamilySearch Center closest to you.

Here
is another example of a restricted collection.
This time, let’s suppose you want to access the book entitled, History of the Jacob Bastian family:
histories, pictures and genealogy of Jacob Bastian, his four wives and their
children. Using the FamilySearch
catalog (familysearch.org/#form=catalog OR familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlc/),
you learn that the book is online at:

However,
when you click “here” as directed, the following error message is
displayed:

Once
again, FamilySearch has limited access to this book. This might be due to the author’s request,
copyright laws, or any number of other reasons.
To view a specific page from the book, you have the following options:

The next time you are unable to view a record, whether
because it is not online or viewing is restricted in some way, don’t settle for
a mere representation or summarized version of it. Remember that Genealogists.com provides free
lookups and will send you the desired record via email usually within 72 hours
of receiving your lookup request. We are
dedicated to helping you overcome those viewing restrictions and providing the most
accurate and complete picture of your family’s past.

My contention is that anything that used to be considered public record should still be obtainable at no charge….with the exception of processing fees, paper, etc. Too many schlock companies have taken these records over, and I believe are illegally charging for them.

A company films records and stores the images on their servers, then charges people to view them. People are quite welcome to write to the repository of the records and pay for copies if they don't want to pay the company that made the effort to digitize them.

I really love reading and following your post as I find them extremely informative and interesting. This post is equally informative as well as interesting . Thank you for information you been putting on making your site such an interesting. Collection

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Trace.com is the world’s largest family history research firm with over 4,000 professional genealogists as well as hundreds of subject matter experts (scholars, private investigators, professors, clergy, and archivists). We are not limited to the small percentage of records that are online. We are not limited to just one or two genealogists. We are not limited to a few local repositories. Instead, we access the world’s records wherever they are located and in whatever form–whether online or offline, including the over 90% of records that FamilySearch estimates are not online.